Novel Cathode Design to Improve the ESD Capability of 600 V Fast Recovery Epitaxial Diodes

Luca Maresca, Giuseppe De Caro, Gianpaolo Romano, Michele Riccio, Giovanni Breglio, Andrea Irace, Laura Bellemo, Rossano Carta and Nabil El Baradai
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Luca Maresca: Department of Electrical Engineering and Information technologies, University of Naples “Federico II”, Via Claudio 21, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Giuseppe De Caro: Department of Electrical Engineering and Information technologies, University of Naples “Federico II”, Via Claudio 21, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Gianpaolo Romano: Department of Electrical Engineering and Information technologies, University of Naples “Federico II”, Via Claudio 21, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Michele Riccio: Department of Electrical Engineering and Information technologies, University of Naples “Federico II”, Via Claudio 21, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Giovanni Breglio: Department of Electrical Engineering and Information technologies, University of Naples “Federico II”, Via Claudio 21, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Andrea Irace: Department of Electrical Engineering and Information technologies, University of Naples “Federico II”, Via Claudio 21, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Laura Bellemo: Vishay Semiconductor Italiana, 10071 Borgaro (TO), Italy
Rossano Carta: Vishay Semiconductor Italiana, 10071 Borgaro (TO), Italy
Nabil El Baradai: Vishay Semiconductor Italiana, 10071 Borgaro (TO), Italy

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: Silicon power diodes are used to design different types of electrical energy systems. Their performance has been improved substantially, as a result of a concentrated research efforts that have taken place in the last two decades. They are considered immune to electrostatic discharge (ESD) failures, since usually they withstand an avalanche energy one order of magnitude higher than that of the ESD. Consequently, few works consider this aspect. However, it was observed that during the mounting of power diodes in automotive systems (e.g., with operators touching and handling the devices), ESD events occur and devices fail. In this paper the ESD capability of 600 V fast recovery epitaxial diode (FRED) is analyzed by means of Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD) simulations, theoretical analyses and experimental characterization. Two doping profiles are investigated in order to improve the ESD robustness of a standard device and an optimized doping profile is proposed. The proposed design exhibits a higher ESD robustness and this is due to its superior capability in keeping the current distribution uniform in the structure in a critical condition such as the impact ionization avalanche effect. Both experimental and numerical results validate the proposed design.

Keywords: electrostatic discharge (ESD); impact ionization; fast recovery epitaxial diode (FRED); sustainable energy systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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